Hello fellow RVers and Merry Christmas. We are considering going full time for about a year or so. Here is our situation. We currently rent a duplex and want to buy a house in a more rural area. What we are considering is: 1.) Put everything into storage. 2.)Fulltime for 12-18 months. 3.)When we are ready to purchase a home we will park in our favorite close to home spot until we have found a home and completed the purchase.Full timing while having the cost of a home at the same time would leave us at the very end of our budget, something we don't want to do on our retirement income. Please share your advise and experiences.P.S. We have used our TT and TV for extended periods and know that we are comfortable with our current set up. We actually purchased our TV and TT with the possibility of fulltime in mind. Thank you for your help.

Figure storage fees are going to cost you 300-500 a month. Camping fees, anywhere from free to a grand a month. How is that going to effect your retirement budget?

Actually climate controlled storage that will fit all of our stuff is $110 per month. We had it in there 5 years ago. 80% of our camping is at U.S. Army Corps of Engineer lakes where we pay half price $8-$12 per night water/elec. Also get a pretty good discount at state parks and Armed Forces campgrounds. Not having rent or house payment and utilities will cover campground and most of fuel cost. so I know we are within our budget. Have down payment for house covered and emergency funds in savings.

That is essentially what we are doing. We sold our house with the idea that we would fulltime until we figured out where we wanted to relocate. It is now two years later and we are still fulltiming. We have figured out that we will probably relocate to SC or FL but we don't really know which. Until we find the place that makes us stop, we will continue fulltiming. We got rid of most everything we owned so have no storage fees. It was just stuff that could eventually be replaced. The irreplaceable stuff (photos, etc.) went to storage.I'm not really sure what your question/inquiry is, but as far as we are concerned, it is a great idea to fulltime before settling down for the rest of your life. Give it a try and if you don't like it or get tired of it, stop. Good luck and happy travels!

dahkota wrote:That is essentially what we are doing. We sold our house with the idea that we would fulltime until we figured out where we wanted to relocate. It is now two years later and we are still fulltiming. We have figured out that we will probably relocate to SC or FL but we don't really know which. Until we find the place that makes us stop, we will continue fulltiming. We got rid of most everything we owned so have no storage fees. It was just stuff that could eventually be replaced. The irreplaceable stuff (photos, etc.) went to storage.I'm not really sure what your question/inquiry is, but as far as we are concerned, it is a great idea to fulltime before settling down for the rest of your life. Give it a try and if you don't like it or get tired of it, stop. Good luck and happy travels!I should have been clearer on what I was asking. Basically just looking for information on things to consider and want to hear about other full timers experience. Like yours. Thanks for sharing your experience going full time.

Things to consider.....being in a rig with your soose during bad weather. After a year of rving full time, i can't think of a negative. We have some stuff in two 10 x 20 storage units at a total cost of $100 a month. We are having a ball checking out every town we go thru to consider as our final home. So far, I've changed my mind 12 times. :) I have a feeling we will be in this rig till our dying day and that's fine with both of us. We don't like painting houses or yardwork and don't like apartments or condos. This is our life and we love it.

considering full time | Good Sam Community

PapaNIes60
Explorer
Dec 26, 2015
Thanks for all the great feed back. This really helps us. especially the stories of transitioning to Fulltime RVing. Ya'll are great!
PapaNIes60
Explorer
Dec 26, 2015
2gypsies wrote:
PapaNIes60 wrote:
Hello fellow RVers and Merry Christmas. We are considering going full time for about a year or so. Here is our situation. We currently rent a duplex and want to buy a house in a more rural area. What we are considering is: 1.) Put everything into storage. 2.)Fulltime for 12-18 months. 3.)When we are ready to purchase a home we will park in our favorite close to home spot until we have found a home and completed the purchase.

You state you are renting now, only going to full-time for a year and will put everything in storage. First, you can't begin to see our country in one year and even in one year it won't give you any idea of full-timing. So perhaps that one year timeframe won't work. You'll be in vacation mode, not living a new lifestyle.

It sounds like you plan to buy a house in the same area you are renting now. If so, just pick out some vacation spots to see and doing what you plan is the way to go.

However, if you're not sure where you want to buy a house in the future and if there's a possibility of full-timing for a longer period of time, I wouldn't keep all that stuff in storage. Furniture gets outdated as do appliances.

When we began full-timing in our 50's, the only thing we were sure of was that we wanted to travel and we didn't want to come back and live in harsh winters. We sold the big house and everything in it and took off with no timeframe in mind. We enjoyed the lifestyle for 16 years, traveling and volunteering in awesome places. It was only during our last couple years that we thought of settling down again because we found ourselves returning to the same area for a few months at a time and fell in love with it. It was someplace that we would have never guessed we'd end up. We bought a small 1100 sq ft townhouse in an awesome active 55+ community with no yard upkeep. It came completely furnished - everything matched and was in excellent condition. We're still young enough to enjoy many activities. We definitely don't sit at home. It worked for us.

I guess I just wanted to get you thinking as to exactly what your plans are and if you have any doubts you may want to think differently. You'll still be very young after a year. It sounds like you'd enjoy traveling. Will you have enough to keep you busy in a house at your early age especially if it's on a parcel of land in a rural area?

Great feed back. I agree that 1 year would possibly turn into more. We definitely love to travel, especially with our TT. Thanks for the advice.
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Dec 26, 2015
PapaNIes60 wrote:
Hello fellow RVers and Merry Christmas. We are considering going full time for about a year or so. Here is our situation. We currently rent a duplex and want to buy a house in a more rural area. What we are considering is: 1.) Put everything into storage. 2.)Fulltime for 12-18 months. 3.)When we are ready to purchase a home we will park in our favorite close to home spot until we have found a home and completed the purchase.

You state you are renting now, only going to full-time for a year and will put everything in storage. First, you can't begin to see our country in one year and even in one year it won't give you any idea of full-timing. So perhaps that one year timeframe won't work. You'll be in vacation mode, not living a new lifestyle.

It sounds like you plan to buy a house in the same area you are renting now. If so, just pick out some vacation spots to see and doing what you plan is the way to go.

However, if you're not sure where you want to buy a house in the future and if there's a possibility of full-timing for a longer period of time, I wouldn't keep all that stuff in storage. Furniture gets outdated as do appliances.

When we began full-timing in our 50's, the only thing we were sure of was that we wanted to travel and we didn't want to come back and live in harsh winters. We sold the big house and everything in it and took off with no timeframe in mind. We enjoyed the lifestyle for 16 years, traveling and volunteering in awesome places. It was only during our last couple years that we thought of settling down again because we found ourselves returning to the same area for a few months at a time and fell in love with it. It was someplace that we would have never guessed we'd end up. We bought a small 1100 sq ft townhouse in an awesome active 55+ community with no yard upkeep. It came completely furnished - everything matched and was in excellent condition. We're still young enough to enjoy many activities. We definitely don't sit at home. It worked for us.

I guess I just wanted to get you thinking as to exactly what your plans are and if you have any doubts you may want to think differently. You'll still be very young after a year. It sounds like you'd enjoy traveling. Will you have enough to keep you busy in a house at your early age especially if it's on a parcel of land in a rural area?
GramaofAAAA
Explorer
Dec 26, 2015
We sold our house and have been living full time in our 5th Wheel for about 18 months. Thinking we will travel for at least 5 years, then buy something small where are kids are. Right now we are spending the holiday's in Houston parked in one of my sisters yards.(with hookups) We are just chasing the sun......it's a little cool and rainy here, but love being with my sisters for Christmas. Will head back to the Pacific NW in the Spring and visit with the kids and grandkids. Go, try it..... :)
lbrjet
Explorer
Dec 25, 2015
Sounds like you are already retired. If so then it would be a no brainer for me to put your stuff in storage and go. Won't have to worry about your home while you are away. One year may turn into more, who knows.
PapaNIes60
Explorer
Dec 25, 2015
Thank you dahkota.
dahkota
Explorer
Dec 25, 2015
PapaNIes60 wrote:

Great feed back! We certainly love to travel and visit our national treasures as well. Bad weather is always a concern for us as we live in Oklahoma and we have found that most all Federal and State parks, in our region, have a designated structure to take shelter in should the need arise. However I would like to hear from some others on that subject.

We were in El Reno in November (have family there) when a storm blew through. Up 60 MPH winds - because they were hitting us on the side, we pulled the slide on that side to save the slide topper. It wasn't the ice storm - we moved on before that hit. That is the great thing about living in a home with wheels - we move before the big ones hit.

We have ridden out blizzards, 70 mph winds, haboobs, hail, lots and lots of rain. No tornadoes yet, though we did see one form in Missouri. We tend to spend more time watching the weather than S&B people do, looking out for heat waves, cold spells, and storms. We have managed to avoid the worst. This summer, we were chased around Alaska by wildfires - something else to keep in mind.

We have, more than once, left a campsite early, even though it was paid for, to avoid really bad weather. But our thought is that $20-30 a night isn't worth risking our house and our lives. We have rerouted on the fly due to forecasted weather - we missed the storms and flooding in central Texas by routing up through Oklahoma. Sometimes it adds miles but, since we don't have any place we have to be...
PapaNIes60
Explorer
Dec 25, 2015
Naio wrote:
Sounds good to me! It looks like you two have thought out the financials thoroughly, always a good step.

My only suggestion is one that was hinted at above: You might find that you want to fulltime longer than you anticipate :).

And THAT might be an issue, if you are trying to get a mortgage after 5 years on the road. There have been previous posts on the topic:look them up.

Great point. I will look those post up. Thanks.
Naio
Explorer II
Dec 25, 2015
Sounds good to me! It looks like you two have thought out the financials thoroughly, always a good step.

My only suggestion is one that was hinted at above: You might find that you want to fulltime longer than you anticipate :).

And THAT might be an issue, if you are trying to get a mortgage after 5 years on the road. There have been previous posts on the topic:look them up.
PapaNIes60
Explorer
Dec 25, 2015
PapaNIes60 wrote:
2oldman wrote:
PapaNIes60 wrote:
Full timing while having the cost of a home at the same time would leave us at the very end of our budget, something we don't want to do on our retirement income.
This statement doesn't indicate to me you are financially able to afford a home.. are you? Most folks in retirement age don't want to saddle themselves with a mortgage.

Thanks for your input. I said we would be at the end of our budget not our income. There is a difference there. Budget is the amount of income we are willing to spend each month vs Income, which is more than our budget ( we like to save). To answer your question, Yes we are financially able to afford a home. We are also financially able to fulltime RV, although to do both we might have to reduce the amount of income we save each month (not necessarily something we want to do.) At 55 yrs old I am much younger than your average retired person, I actually retired at 52 (yes things worked out well for me financially), therefore taking a mortgage out again is very possible. Let me also add that in 2015 we spent a total of 7 months RVing. Again thanks for your reply.

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